


stay (ignorant with me)

by LittleSpoonSebastian



Category: SHINee
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kind of Canon Compliant, Lee Taemin-centric, Sharing a Bed, debut era shinee, no beta we die like men, platonic ontae, the title is way too dramatic for such a cute drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:06:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29560938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSpoonSebastian/pseuds/LittleSpoonSebastian
Summary: "Taemin, your room is fine. It's not like anyone's gonna jump out at you," he assured him, closing his eyes again."But hyung-""You're safe, okay? Try and get some sleep."-or: SHINee move into a new dorm and Taemin doesn't like it one bit
Kudos: 35





	stay (ignorant with me)

**Author's Note:**

> I've noticed this fic is getting more attention than I expected, so to all the readers out there, if you know what song the title is from please please tell me in the comments you'll get so much respect from me for liking the band as well as SHINee. I promise you will get bonus points and like, be able to request a SHINee oneshot or smth no strings attached lmao.  
> Hint: the song is by a rock band

Taemin and Minho were sharing a room. Sharing a bunk bed to be more specific. It wasn't exactly paradise but there was a lot more breathing room than the single bedroom for all five of them that they had until yesterday. Tonight was the first official night in the New Dorm™.

And naturally, Taemin was terrified.

He hated sleeping in unfamiliar settings, since it always took him a long time to feel comfortable in a new place, especially when he was with people other than his family. He was just starting to accept the old dorm as his new home, and suddenly the manager arrived a week ago and told them to start packing their things.

So again, naturally, Taemin was sitting in the top bunk and crying quietly into his blanket. Being sat so high up in the new room triggered his irrational fear of being the last one awake. He hadn't had a wink of sleep, and it was already 1am. He sniffled and buried his face in the blanket.

It was so dark in the room, and all the boxes of stuff stacked up against the wall looked like horrible shadow figures, and not the horrible shadow figures he was used to in the old dorm. He liked those shadows because he knew what each of them were. These ones were new and scary. Anything could be in those boxes when it's dark. Anything included house spiders. Taemin hated house spiders.

He looked up at the ceiling above him. There were no weird blobs of paint that he could make constellations with in his head. Just a plain white ceiling. No blobs. It was too clean and he hated it. What could he make constellations out of now? Even the bunk bed wasn't the same. Instead of mesh barriers there were metal poles. They were cold and he hated them. He hated them so much. He couldn't run his fingers across them like he could with the mesh pattern. And the ladder was in the middle of the bed. Not at the foot of the bed where he wanted it to be. He hated the barriers so much. He hated them.

His breathing started picking up. He curled up under his little blanket in the middle of the bunk so he wasn't touching any of the poles. He squeezed his eyes shut and imagined his blobs on the ceiling. Thoughts kept intruding as he tried to ignore everything around him. The ladder didn't have masking tape on it. The metal pole was cold and he hates it. He hated everything about this. He hated the new dorm.

He let out a tiny sob and threw the blanket to the end of the bunk, scrambling out of the bed down the ladder and stumbling to the door. He pressed his back against it and looked at the bunk. How was Minho sleeping so peacefully in a room like this? Taemin reached for the door handle and opened it, running out of the room and closing the door behind him. Now what?

He looked at the other two doors in the corridor. Jinki. He needed to go to Jinki's room. Maybe Jinki would understand.

He opened the door a little louder than he would've liked, stepping inside and looking around the room. It was unfamiliar, but there were no shadows in the room because Jinki had put a little nightlight on the floor that projected stars onto the ceiling. Taemin looked up. There were actual constellations in Jinki's room.

He approached Jinki's sleeping figure and shook his shoulder gently. The elder woke up pretty quickly, squinting at Taemin and mumbling,  
"What's wrong?" Taemin started fiddling with the hem of his shirt like he always does, and started ranting at Jinki,  
"I can't sleep hyung, there's shadows in the room and I don't like them a-and the ceiling isn't nice and the bunk bed is cold and-"

"Taemin, your room is fine. It's not like anyone's gonna jump out at you," he assured him, closing his eyes again.

"But hyung-"

"You're safe, okay? Try and get some sleep-"

Taemin started sobbing as he wrapped his arms around himself. Jinki sat up and stared at him, a little shocked for a moment. He didn't think he was that scared. He tries to say something, but all he can conjure up is a soft 'oh.'

Taemin continued to cry as he stared at the floor and rubbed his eyes with his shaky fists. Jinki couldn't help but look at him and just remember that Taemin was still a _child_. And Jinki was the eldest. He was responsible for looking after Taemin, and he had just brushed him off for the sake of going back to sleep.

He stood up slowly and wrapped his arms around Taemin, bringing their bodies together in the middle of the dark room. He cooed at him and stroked the back of his hair,  
"Oh, Taeminnie. I'm so sorry." Taemin muffled his sobs into the elder's shirt, closing his eyes and just letting himself be held like this.

"I didn't think you were this scared, honey. I'm sorry," he whispered. He wasn't too sure about the pet name, but he knew he needed to pull out all the stops if he wanted to make it up to Taemin. It didn't make Taemin any worse so he assumed it worked.

"Hyung-" Taemin began, wanting to say sorry too. He didn't mean to get so scared. And Jinki was right; nothing was gonna jump out at him in the middle of the night. But Jinki stopped him, rubbing his back slowly,  
"Shhhhh, it's okay honey." They stood there for a few more minutes, exchanging no words, just soft touches. Eventually Jinki whispered in Taemin's ear,  
"Do you wanna stay in here tonight? I know the bed is small, but…"

Taemin nodded and pulled away, wiping his eyes. Jinki lead him to the bed and had him lie down, placing the blanket over him and then getting under it himself. He muttered,  
"Do you want me to turn the night light off?" Taemin shook his head,  
"I like… stars." Jinki smiled fondly at the maknae and looked up at the ceiling too.

"Me too."

"They're pretty."

Jinki turned to Taemin. After a small silence between them he asked,  
"Do you think you're scared of the room? Or are you scared of the fact that it's new?" Taemin kept on staring at the stars, explaining,  
"I've always hated new things. You know, change and stuff. And I hate being awake when everyone else is asleep."

Jinki nodded. He sat up against the headboard and told him,  
"I'll stay awake until you fall asleep, okay? You need at least a few hours." Taemin pulled the blanket up to his chin and turned to the side,  
"Thank you hyung."

"Goodnight Taemin."

" … I love you hyung."

"I love you too Taemin."


End file.
